Banana Bread

Apparently, one benefit of habitually cooking 10-15 meals at a time is that you just get generally more comfortable in the kitchen.  Last week we had a couple bananas that were getting "iffy" so I decided to make banana bread. Out came my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook...butter, sugar, eggs, bananas, flour, etc....dump it all in the loaf pan, pop it in the oven.  Easy, right?

So, a couple hours later Levi gets home from work and the following conversation takes place:

L: Why does it smell good in here?

F: I dunno...I made banana bread, is that it?

L: You made banana bread?

F: Yeah....we had two bananas left and they were getting weird. So?

L: So you just...made bread. In the middle of the day.

F: . . . .yes?

Happy New Year!!!

I'm a lousy blogger, I know. I keep coming up with ideas for posts but then getting writer's block when it comes to actually putting words down. I need to jump on the Wordless Wednesday and Three Thing Thursday bandwagons just to develop some consistency.

Today's post is EASY, though - what else is there to blog about on January 1 besides looking back at 2010 and ahead to 2011?

2010 was, as Levi put it so well, tumultuous at best.

• We made the very difficult decision to file bankruptcy and walk away from our house. Things have been somewhat rocky financially for several years and we just couldn't keep our heads above water any more. The bank takes possession on February 24th and as of today, we're still not sure where we're going to be instead. To say that we've been spending a lot of mental and emotional energy on this lately is probably the understatement of the year. 
• In May I fell off my horse and broke my ankle - I was super excited to do a lot of riding and even some showing this year and well...THAT went right out the window. I finally started riding again seven months later - almost to the day, in fact. Fortunately all of last year's motivations and goals will easily transfer over to 2011 instead.  
• Over the summer I spent several weeks working with a career coach. I came away with a much clearer idea of what I want to be doing, long term...and also the realization that I will need to go back to school in order to get there.  Fortunately, I also got some great resume and interview advice that should help me nail down a new in-between job while I work on the education part.

 Enough dwelling on the past, though! 2011 is a fresh start, right?

• In October I gave up caffeine (more on that in another post, someday), but I drank a lot of grape soda to compensate for the loss of my beloved Mountain Dew. Starting today, I'm also giving up all soda. I know this is one of the biggest hurdles in my weight loss.
• I WLL exercise my horse at least 4 days a week. My trainer is in Florida for three months, so it's entirely up to me to keep him in shape both physically and mentally!) so that we're not starting over come April.
• I want to be more consistent with my hooping practice. I can't wait until winter is over and I can get outside, but I have a great space in my basement that I really should utilize.
• The job search continues! Thanks to my work with Cindy, I am being much more focused and only applying for jobs where I think I'll have long term success and happiness. 
• I've submitted my application for admission to the St. Kate's Weekend Program for Fall 2011! I really wanted to do the Winter or Spring trimesters rather than waiting until September, but I'm in the middle of rehabbing the student loan I took out in 2008 and I can't apply for new financial aid until that process is complete, so Fall it is.
• Last but definitely not least, I plan to continue the OAMC cooking we started this fall. I got a little lazy about it in December and boy do I regret it!

2010

Someone tell me if you all get bored with my cooking "adventures"

So, I switched up my OAMC cooking for November just a little bit, and it reinforced everything I know about myself and why I hate cooking from scratch on a daily basis, and why OAMC is such a good fit for us. :)

In September and October, I followed the OAMC cookbook's two-week plans almost to the letter, just omitting a recipe or two and adjusting the provided shopping list accordingly.  For November, I decided to go "advanced" and cut down one of the one-month cycles by half.  This pretty much meant picking my 12-15 recipes and then assembling my own shopping list, recipe by recipe.

We shopped on Friday night, I picked up some missed items on Saturday, and I started cooking on Sunday. I've completed 8 of my 14 recipes and so far I've come up with FIVE ingredients that somehow didn't make it onto my shopping list.

:facepalm:

Thanks to the magic of Google, I was able to come up with adequate substitutions so that I didn't have to drop everything and run to the store five different times (and once the missing ingredient was nonessential enough that I just left it out) but for some reason, compling a complete and accurate shopping list has been the primary thing that has always tripped me up when attempting to do my own meal planning. 

What's up with that?

Pumpkins!!

Sorry the pictures aren't better...I still don't know how to use all the settings on my camera.

 Tiny Evil Ninja!

 Fiona's Cat

 Brianna's Fairy

 Josh's Happy Face (courtesy of mom)

Levi's Cityscape

The Whole Gang

So like...does this make me a grown-up?

I made pot roast for dinner the other night! (yes, one of the OAMC recipes.)

It turned out pretty darn perfect, if I do say so myself. Not that it was hard - throw it in the crock pot before work, take it out after work - but like I've said before, crock pots make me nervous.

Really, the hardest part (have I made this speech before?) was at the grocery store, figuring out which hunk of meat was a "pot roast."  Or rather...the right kind of pot roast. There were, like...a half a dozen or more different cuts of beef whose labels all included the words "pot" and "roast." Usually with two or three other descriptives in between.  I must have guessed right, though, because the end result was supremely edible.


(My mother is shamed, SHAMED, I tell you, to have raised a daughter who doesn't know how to pick out a pot roast at the grocery store.)

World's Biggest Hula Hoop?

This video is kind of long (6 minutes) but some of the tricks she can do with this oversize hoop are AMAZING.